Today was the day for my annual cardiologist appointment. As I've blogged about previously, back in 2005 I had heart surgery to repair my mitral valve. Since then, every summer we take the hour trek from Hickory to the Sanger Clinic in Mooresville to have a follow up appointment.
First, I have an echo-sonogram, where they attach a couple monitoring electrodes and then smear spots of my chest with gel. The technician then uses a device to rub over the gel spots and record pictures of the heart in action. It is pretty cool how they do it. Like having a sonogram when a woman is pregnant. You get to see the beating heart, the blood flow, etc. Very neat.
After that, we wait a half hour or so to see the cardiologist. He reads the echo along with the quick EKG the nurse does to see how things are going. This year, like last year, he said things are looking good (the echo was the same as last year, which is a good sign - that means that surgery is still holding strong).
I am a lot healthier than last year's appointment too. I've lost about 23 pounds since last August, the cholesterol is all under control, and I'm exercising a lot more than I had been. All that contributes to good heart health.
No comments:
Post a Comment